Break-in fuel and method for breaking in internal-combustion engines



Dec. 12, 1944. w MALOTT BREAK-IN FUEL AND METHOD FOR BREAKING IN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES Original Filed Aug. 5, 1943 m m m mmc =mE 3 2%?) Em 21 Fig.!

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Inventor'- William Morris Malofi By his Afiorney Patented Dec. 12, 1944 BREAK-IN FUEL AND METHOD FOR BREAK ING IN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES William Morris Malott, Lafayette, Calif., assignor to Shell Development Company, San Francisco,

Calif., a corporation of Delaware Original application August3, 1943, Serial No.

' 497,250. Divided and this application ary 2, 1944, Serial No. 521,001

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to spark-ignition engine fuelsiparticularly suitable for breaking in engines and a procedure for applying such fuel to best advantage.

At the present time, in the manufacture of spark-ignition internal combustion engines, particularly aircraft engines, it is considered necessary procedure to run the newly assembled engine for a period of time on a test stand, or in the instance of automotive engines to run the automobile at a reduced speed for a given distance. In the case of aircraft engines, this breakin period, usually lasting from 3 to 10 hours or longer, is made necessary by the fact that the engine must be ready to produce full power at maximum load, if necessary, the first few minutes of operation after leaving the factory. Since it is impractical in production line manufacture to machine piston. ring and cylinder surfaces .to the point of perfect matching, the break-in period at relatively light loading and slow speed is necessary to wear the piston rings and cylinder surfaces to the required high polish and perfect- 1y matched fit. This prolonged break-in period of each engine is a considerable burden to the engine manufacturer. For this reason, the development of a fuel and/or method permitting a more rapid break-in of internal combustion engines has long been considered highly desirable.

Several methods have been used in the past to accelerate wear-in. Cold operation of the engine to bring about corrosive wear in the cylinder by condensation of water of combustion produces practically all the wear at the top of the ring travel and hence introduces a tapered bore. Furthermore, cold corrosion is diflicult to control be-- cause of its sensitivity to all operating factors affecting pressures and temperatures during the combustion stroke.

Hand lapping the rings in the cylinder using a grinding compound has been found satisfactory' in some cases, but in most instances it has also been found that small quantities of lapping compound'remain embedded in the cast iron and thus lead to increased wear at a later time. Because of the very few strokes required, control, of the process is diflicult and a stringent cleaning procedure .is required to remove the lapping compound. For thesereasons, hand lapping is considered unsatisfactory for general application.

Gasoline additives, the action of which is chemical in nature, have also been tried to reduce engine break-intime. However, due to the temperature gradient along the cylinder, theaction Februof such additives is-more effective and prono ced near the top of the cylinder barrel than the bottom, thus producing undesirable tapering of the barrel.

A fuel additive employed for the purpose of shortening the break-in period of internal combustion engines must have the following characteristics:

1. It must provide more rapid seating of rubbing surfaces.

2. It must. leave the surfaces smooth and free of scratches, scufis or scores.

3. The surfaces must be left in their natural state without a chemically bonded surface layer subject to removal during later, operation.

4. The wear must be uniform throughout the ring travel so as not to introduce cylinder taper.

5. The wear-in process must be completely under the control of the operator so that it can be stopped aftera prescribed interval.

6. The additive must not introduce materials or surface deposits that cannot be removed by flushing.

'It is an object of the present invention to provide an internal combustion engine fuel, containing an additive, which is specifically designed for use over short periods of time to break in engines. A further object is toprovide a fuel in this category which meets all of the basic requirements for such fuels set forth above. An- ,other object is to provide a method for breaking in internal combustion engines whereby this fuel is employed to great advantage and whereby the known disadvantages of similar fuels are overcome. Other objects, together with some of the advantages to be derived from employing the fuels of the present invention, will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention, together with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure I includes a series of curves in which are plotted piston ring wear against hours of engine operation for various fuels, and Figure 11 includes a pair of curves in which are plotted engine oil consumption against hours of engine operation for undoped fuel and'a fuel of the present invention.

According to the instant invention the breakin period for spark-ignition internal combustion engines is materially shortened by use of a fuel containing iron carbonyl in amounts insufficient to materially raise the anti-detonating value of the fuel as determined by the 1C and 3C methods of the Cooperative Fuel Research-Aviation Fuel Division. These test methods are at the present After prolonged use, the quantities of iron oxide build up to a point whereat difficulty in the operation of the engine due to fouling of the spark plugs, plugging of oil filters, and the like, occurs.

It has been found that these iron oxide decomposition products are in a form similar, if notidentical, to jewelers rouge, which is well known as a very fine polishing agent and generally employed for the finishing polish of optical and jewelry goods. 1 Under proper and controlled conditions, as will be explained below, advantage may be taken of this fact to provide a rouge polishing of cylinder surfaces by incorporating amounts of iron carbonyl in a gasoline fuel. The rouge obtained as'a decomposition product of iron carbonyl under engine operating conditions is in an extremely finely divided form and appears to be ideal for the mechanical polishing of cylinder walls and piston ring faces. It does not cause scratches, scuff marks or scores and its action is uniform over the entire length of piston ring travel since it is. entirely a function of mild mechanical abrasion.

It has been discovered that a suitable breakin fuel can be produced by adding to a gasoline an amount of iron carbonylFe(CO)s-insufilcient materially to raise the anti-detonation value thereof. This fuel may be used to operate a new engine for a period of. at least 1 and than 10; and especially in the case of aircraft engines, preferably between 1 and 5 hours; and thereafter continuing operation of the engines on a standard or regular fuel free from iron carbonyl.

The fuel to which the iron carbonyl is added should have thedetonating value generally used in breaking in the engine'at hand; fuels having an anti-detonation value equivalent to at least a octane number of about 70 or more are generally preferred or required for aircraft engine break-ins. The gasoline may be straight run, cracked or synthesized (as by alkylation; polymerization, etc.) or may be a blend of one or several components. It may or may not contain tetraethyl lead in the customary amounts up to about 4 cc.; or aniline, toluidene, xylidenes or other aromatic amines of not more than about 9 carbon atoms in amounts of about /z% to 5%; as well as other additives to raise the antiknock value or to adjust volatility, or both.

The amounts of iron carbonyl which may be added to the fuel for the present purpose will ordinarily range from at least approximately .5 to 2 cc. per gallon. The addition of this amount of iron carbonyl to gasolines fails to materially raise the anti-knock value of the gasoline, and

whateverrise in anti-knock rating is percep with an external sump suited to oil consumption measurements. This engine was further modified to take a Ford 60 cylinder sleeve and thus new , filometer to determine the magnitude of the sura 5-hour graduated break-in starting with a 4% not more than about 20 hours, preferably less load which was gradually increased to load over this 5-hour period. When the test was continued for more than 5 hours, operation was at full load and full speed of 2100 R. P. M, at an air-fuel ratio of 13.5: 1. The oil temperature was maintained at 270 F. and jacket temperature at 212 F.

In the accompanying drawing are shown the results of two typical tests.

Figure I shows the rate of piston ring wear of a fuel containing 1 cc. per gallon iron carbonyl as against an identical fuel free from iron carbonyl. Three curves are shown, curve I depicting the rate of wear upon ontinued operation for 100 hours with the fuel containing the iron carbonyl; curve 2 depicting the rate of wear when operating on the iron carbonyl fuel for 20 hours and then continuing with the clear fuel;

and curve 3 showing the rate of wear when operating with a clear fuel for 100 hours.- As will be noted, when switching from the iron carbonyl fuel to the clear fuel, the rate of wear is identical with that found when continuously operating on the clear fuel. In other words, iron oxide deposited from the iron carbonyl fuel is not carried over in sufiicient quantities to continue causing high wear, when switching to a fuel free from iron carbonyl.

In Figure II, oil consumption is shown when operating with fuels with or without iron carbonyl. Curve 4 of Figure II shows oil consumption when employing a clear fuel not containmg iron carbonyl, while curve 5 shows the oil consumption when operating with iron carbonyl. As will be noted, the peak of oil consumption is reduced from about ,30 hours to about 5 hours.

The fuel employed'in these tests was a typical 91 octane number aircraft fuel containing tetraethyl lead. The addition of the iron carbonyl did not change its anti-knock rating as metzsdured by the twotesting methods previously no As is known, iron carbonyl decomposes readily, liberating CO, thereby forming a precipitate. The addition of certain oxidation inhibitors is capable of sufficiently stabilizing gasoline contaming iron carbonyl in the small quantities required for the instant purpose to produce a fuel which can be stored in the dark at least for reasonable periods of time so as to make the use of iron carbonyl fuels practical for various breakin purposes. 1

With the aid of thebreak-in fuel of this invention, engines can be broken in both on the test stand and in actual use. Aircraft engines will normally be broken in on the ground in a stand while-automotive engines may be broken in,

has been customary, by driving the car slowly on the road for a given distance.

However, the

time or distance is shortened considerably when using the break-in fuel as against a standard fuel. Thus an automobile engine may be broken in thoroughly by driving it less than 200 miles as against the 1000 miles or more as has been required before. Thus, if the manufacturer of the automobile furnishes with the car, say, to gallons of the break-in fuel of this invention, the break-in period for the new car can be shortened from the present 25 or more hours to approximately 5 hours. When the supply of this furnished gasoline is exhausted, any conventional gasoline may then be used for further operation, dismantling of the engine being unnecessary.

'It is understood that the described break-in procedure is notlimited to breaking in new engines, but may also be applied to breaking in overhauled, renovated and rebuilt engines which may require breaking in. Certain specific advantages, among others, which may be derived. from operating according to the present invention include the following: when breaking in aircraft engines, most of which have relatively sensitive carburetor settings, it is not necessary to readjust the carburetor setting since a gasoline having the normal anti-detonation value commonly used for the break-in of the particular engine at hand may be employed, the addition of the required amount of iron carbonyl not affecting this value; it is not necessary to flush the crankcase of an engine after the breakin, since it has been determined that the residual amounts of iron carbonyl decomposition products remaining in the lubricating oil do not in any manner increase the rate of wear of moving parts in contact with the lubricating oil; the break-in,

' ing to the present invention is the material reduction of thephenomenon commonly called "Weathering" of piston rings. The combination of a machined piston ring and a honed cylinder barrel in sliding contact presents conditions in which a slight protrusion on one surface may penetrate the separating film of oil and bring about metal-to-metal contact with the other surface." If the contact area is small and the pres-- sure high, as in aircraft engines, the frictional heat developed may be sufllcient to lower the yield point of the metal on both of the surfaces to the.

extent that 'actual metal displacement occurs. In some instances this results in eliminationof the protrusions, but in other cases it may actually produce secondary protrusions which in-turn will further distort the mating surface at another point. Such an intermittent condition of plasticity of the. surface will permit it to creep in the line of the frictional forces, creating a When such feathering consumption inevitably follows, probably due to the tendency of the feathered" surfaces of the piston rings to pump oil into the upper part of the cylinder, rather than scrape it towards the lower end of the cylinder. The accelerated break-in obtained by use of the fuels of the present invention, it has been found, greatly decreases the likelihood of piston ring feathering" and the resultant high oil consumption and timeconsuming engine overhauls.

This application is a dlvsion Serial No. 497,250, filed August 3, 1943.

I claim as my invention: I

1.. Ina method for breaking in spark-ignition engines, the step comprising operating an engine for a period of at least approximately one hour and not more than approximately twenty hours with a gasoline .containing iron carbonyl in amounts insufficient materially to raise the antidetonation value of said gasoline.

2. In a method for breaking in spark-ignition engines, the step comprising operating an engine for a period of at least approximately one hour and not more than approximately twenty hours with a gasoline containing at least approximately .5 cc. of iron carbonyl and not exceeding the quantity of iron carbonyl'required materially to raise the anti-detonation value of said gasoline.

3. In a method for breaking in spark-ignition engines, the step comprising operating an engine for a period of at least approximately one hour and not more than approximately ten hours with a gasoline containing at least approximately .5 cc. and not more than approximately 2 cc. of iron carbonyl per gallon.

4. In; a method for breaking in spark-ignition engines, the steps comprising operating an engine for a period of at least approximately one hour and not more than approximately twenty hours with a gasoline containing at least approximately .5 cc. and not more than approximately 2 cc. of iron c arbonyl per. gallon, and then continuing the engine operation with a standard gasoline free from iron carbonyl.

5. In a method for breaking in spark-ignition aircraft engines, the step comprising operating an aircraft engine for a period of at least approximately one hour and not more than approximately ten hours with a gasoline having an octane number of at least approximately and containing at least'approximately .5 cc. per gallon of iron carbonyl and less than the amount of iron carbonyl iequired materially to raise the anti-detonation value of said gasoline.

6. In a method for breaking in spark-ignition aircraft engines, thesteps comprising operating an engine for a period of at least approximately one hour and not molt. than approximately ten hours with a gasoline having an octane number of at least approximately '70 and containing from approximately .5 cc. to approximately 2 cc. per gallon of iron carbonyl, and then continuing the engine operation with a standard gasoline free from iron carbonyl.

. WILLIAM MORRIS MALO'I'I.

of application 

